FAISALABAD    -  Punjab government has introduced a modern smart e-card scheme to solve the problems related to social security of daily wage earners and their 100 percent registration.

Under this scheme, the employer will have to pay only the contribution for the same period in which he had hired a laborer. This was stated by Rana Riaz Ahmed, Director Punjab Employees Social Security Institution (PESSI) Faisalabad during a meeting at Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) on Saturday.

Director PESSI highlighted the importance of social security and said that employees and employers are two wheels of the same vehicle and close liaison is need of the hour. He said that the employers actually make their employees and their families entitled to all kinds of medical and other benefits by giving a monthly contribution of Rs. 1200 for their employees.

He termed the e-card as a revolutionary step of Punjab government and said that the holders of e-card would be able to avail modern medical treatment in social security hospitals, dispensaries and medical centers while in case of illness the workers would be paid wage of 121 days at rate of 75% in a year. Similarly, the facility of ambulances equipped with modern equipment in dispensaries and hospitals will also be provided round the clock. The workers on the e-card will also be entitled to get diagnostic facilities against hepatitis, gastrointestinal, dialysis and breast cancer at state-of-the-art laboratories, physiotherapy centers and clinics, he added.

The employers would provide necessary facilities to their workers in obtaining the e-card while the workers could also approach the concerned office of Social Security directly for getting the same card, he added. President FCCI Engineer Hafiz Ehtesham Javaid said that at present most of the workers are daily wage earners who do not fall in the category of permanent employees which makes it difficult for them to record and contribute.

He welcomed the e-card scheme for resolving problems of daily wage earners and said that under this scheme the employer would have to pay the contribution of his laborer for the period during which the laborer has worked for him.

He said that this would permanently solve the problem of laborers and especially daily wage earners.

Senior Vice President FCCI Chaudhry Tallat Mahmood, Vice President FCCI Rana Ayub Aslam Manj, Chaudhry Mumtaz Hussain, Rana Zubair, Muhammad Shahid, Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Ramzan, Muhammad Ashfaq, Farooqullah, Nadeem Shahid, Asif Aslam, Riaz Ahmed and Zahid Mahmood were also present on the occasion.